What in the world do all of these gauges do? That’s often the first reaction when someone sees an airplane cockpit. There is a lot of information being displayed on the various needles in an aircraft – it can be overwhelming. But every airplane has a few staple...

It's easy to look up to the sky and see a bunch of nothing. I'm always in wonder when there are lots of unusual clouds because it gives great dimension to an otherwise endless blue void. On the ground, we draw imaginary lines all over the land, making states,...

We are in the air and on the way to Shelbyville! In part one and part two of our three part flight simulator cross country series, we started up our Cessna 172 in Smyrna (KMQY), just outside of Nashville, Tennessee. We listened to the weather, taxied to the runway,...

In our last Clayviation YouTube session, we began a multi-part series showing each phase of a short cross country flight. We began in Smyrna, Tennessee, just outside of Nashville, and started up the engine. This week, we are going to show the taxi, engine run up and...

There's something to be said about doing things by the book. Learning the "textbook" way of doing things is important. For the most basic of reasons, you can't pass the test if you don't learn the textbook. In aviation, doing things the right way - by the book - is a...

I sat in the cockpit, looking over the engine cowling, watching the mechanic as he worked his magic. "Okay try it now," he called, stepping away from the airplane. I ran through the checklist. "Mixture rich, carb heat cold, throttle open a quarter inch." I finished...

Most conversations I have that involve mentioning being a pilot inevitably turn towards the airlines. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing but respect for airline pilots, but thinking that the only facet of aviation are the airlines is like thinking that the only flavor...

It's the time of the season for giving and thankfulness, and this week's blog is a contribution to an aviation colleague who's partnership I am very thankful for. If you've been flying first class with me at Clayviation for a while, you might recall a blog about...

The FAA estimates 7 million drones to be buzzing around in the airspace system by 2020. As a pilot, there are understandable concerns about what it means to have so many people sharing the same airspace. Having functioned as both an airplane pilot and a drone...

It's not always too difficult to tell if the weather is good enough to fly - in the moment. Looking up to a clear blue windless sky is a pretty good sign. The big question with weather is often "what's going to happen next?" On a recent flight to Nashville,...

This week, the Stuck Mic Avcast invited me on the podcast to discuss aviation and the future of Clayviation. The recording will be available for your listening pleasure on October 1, 2016 through your favorite podcast app or at stuckmicavcast.com. While the blog is...

With today's plethora of technology, making a phone call before a flight for a weather briefing seems like an unnecessary step - on the surface. After all, programs like Foreflight can give you a step by step briefing of weather, notams, forecasts and more. But even...

This past week, I took a cross country flight from Thomson, Georgia to Nashville, Tennessee. You might wonder how one state over qualifies as a "cross country," but just like running cross country in high school doesn't mean coast to coast, so it is with aviation. In...

Looking intently over the instrument panel directly in front of us, my seven year old son and I went back and forth. "Is that it?" He called, pointing over one way. "No, I don't think so," I replied. "There! Those lights - is that it!?" He called back. "Those look...

What Is This Thing? It might look like you need a degree in Rocket Science to have any business trying to figure out an E6B, but you don't. It's actually quite simple once you understand how it's laid out and a couple basics. There are seemingly limitless functions...

One of the first things people ask me about being a pilot is if I own an airplane. My answer? "I wish I did. Well, kinda." You see, it's not assumed that a pilot owns an airplane like it is that a driver owns a car. I think of it more like a house. There are times...

A METAR, or aviation routine weather report, is an hourly surface observation from a weather station, usually at an airport. It gets its name from the term Meteorological Aerodrome Report, but boy is that a mouthful. In a nutshell, it's what the weather is doing at...

I tried to explain to my seven year old how incredible the iPad he was playing on was. It might be commonplace to most of us by now, but the technology we have at our fingertips is remarkable. In my most genuine "back in my day" sort of rant, I reminisced on tape...

Maybe you are curious about flight training - you love the idea of being a pilot but don't know if you have what it takes (Read the Clayviation blog What Does It Take To Become A Pilot?). Perhaps you've always wanted to do it but just don't know how to take the first...

My airplane was stopped in the middle of the runway at the Athens Ben Epps Airport (KAHN). I was a student pilot and it was my first time flying solo - just me in the Cessna 172 - at the tower controlled Class D airport. I heard the tower call me. "Cessna 916, back...

This week, you'll find the Clayviation blog as the feature blog over at Hangar.Flights, a rapidly growing online resource for pilots including blogs, stories, discussions, and videos. They also have a very cool Instagram. Hangar.Flights and Clayviation share core...

The sun burst into the cockpit, nearly blinding me as I leveled off to land just above the runway on final approach. Using the visual cues that I could, I hoped for the best as my otherwise graceful approach to land settled down on the runway - a lot harder than I...

How And Why Airplanes Fly (Instead Of Falling) Have you ever wondered what would happen if you were flying on an airplane and all the engines stopped working? Would you just start falling? A fear of flying is fairly common. For some, it's the smaller space. Others,...

The airplane windows faded to a hazy white as I climbed up into the cloud layer. It was my very first time in the clouds. I had just taken off from Peachtree City Falcon Field (KFFC) on a gray, rainy day. The kind of rainy day that just rains lightly. Constantly....

I peered out of the window into the darkness below. The only indication that anything aside from a black void was below us were the sparkling lights of cities and towns as we flew over them. I was still in the first few hours of my initial pilot training over a decade...

My son was right next to me as I called the airport to cancel the flight. "It's a no go today. These clouds just won't let us in the air." Reid is just weeks away from turning seven and he has never been flying. Not on a commercial airline, and not with me, a...

Whether you are a seasoned pilot, learning to fly or just curious, Clayviation is about taking a very complicated discipline and making it easy to understand. Follow along on flights and learn different aviation concepts and disciplines. Join the mailing list for...